The Women of Fire
by Ananke Adrasteia
Summary: Azula, Mai, Ursa, post-series. There is a bit of Zuko, understandably, since he is the Firelord and a brother/boyfriend/son to them.
1. Prologue

Author's note: Hi, folks, first Avatar fic here! Please be gentle.

* * *

**Prologue**

There were these moments...

Usually, she knew precisely what she wanted. She wanted power: the throne and the fire. She was the daughter of the Firelord, clever and beautiful, and a firebending prodigy. It was only right that she inherit the throne after her father.

But there were these moments...

She did not really need Zu-zu in Ba Sing Se. But she plotted the coup so as to let him play a role in it. She did not really need to take him home. But she crafted a love affair for him to return with her home. She did not really need to tell him not to visit Uncle in prison. Instead, she told him to stay away and watch out for himself.

There was no question, of course, that Zuko would have to learn his place and step away from her path to power when the time came. But in the meantime... she enjoyed playing with him. Needling him. Manipulating him. Having him around.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

"So, did he tell you where she is?" Mai's rasping voice murmured into his ear.

"Yes," he replied. "Or at least, he told me where to start the search... where he sent her."

"Where?"

"The colonies."

"Hmm."

She did not have to wait long before Zuko's temper flared, together with every single candle in the room. "I wish I could do something NOW! But now that Aang's brought here Kuei, and the Northern Water Tribe fleet will be here in two days... there's no chance I'll be able to go there and come back before anyone notices!"

Since representatives of all the major players in the world were already present in the Fire Nation capital (some due to the virtue of living there, while others due to having been imprisoned after the failed invasion of the Day of the Black Sun), it was decided that the peace negotiations would take place there. The Earth King and Chief Arnook were the only two people missing; the Avatar had left several days ago on Appa to retrieve the former, while the latter had departed with his entourage as soon as the news of the victory had reached the North Pole and was now travelling at full speed towards the Fire Nation capital. The Firelord was needed here.

"Zuko."

"Yes, Mai?"

He was still agitated, clearly torn. "I will go," she said daintily, wondering why she cared.

Zuko turned around forcefully to face her. "What? No, Mai, you will not."

"Zuko," she reached out to him. "You will be missed here, if you go. I won't. I have practically made it my art not to be missed. You cannot be missed if you are invisible in the first place."

"You are not invisible, Mai."

At that, she had to smile. "Perhaps not anymore. After all, it is hard to be invisible if you are sitting with your boyfriend in plain view of all the nobles of the Fire Nation! Not to mention more than one Earth Kingdom noble with a daughter in a marriageable age... and the Chief of the Southern Water Tribe..."

Zuko laughed. "Heh. Katara would kill you for what you are now suggesting, Mai."

Small embers lit in his girlfriend's dark eyes, and he loved them. "She might try. But still, Zuko, I want to go."

He lifted his head and looked at her earnestly. "You are serious about that? You really want to go?"

"And fetch your mother? Of course, you jerk, why not?"

"Besides, it's not like there's many people you can send instead," she continued after a brief, though lengthening, moment. "There can't be many who know how she looks. After you burnt every last portrait of hers on the Ember Island, you know."

"I still have one," Zuko said defensively.

"Oh, yes, like that's gonna help." She rolled her eyes. "Zuko, let me go. If anything else... she knows me. And I know her. She will trust me sooner than any platoon of the Royal Firebenders you send for her."

Zuko's eyes lit, and she knew she had made a HUGE mistake. "OK, Mai," he said. "If you really want to go, then I won't stop you. Can't stop you, probably. So... thank you very much for doing this for me. I'm really grateful. But you won't go alone. The colonies are rough, and I want you to be safe. I need you to be safe. I need to know you're OK while I sit here with these old, cranky men and do – all those negotiations stuff and all. So, I'm sending a platoon of the Royal Firebenders with you. You're not to give them the slip. That's my order to you, as your Firelord."

"...please?" he added a moment later.


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

The colonies _were_ rough, thus affording her many opportunities for target practice. Earlier that day, even the Royal Firebenders could share in the fun, after they had been attacked by a large group of Earth and Water brigands dissatisfied by the coming of the peace.

They were not half bad, she must admit: they knew both how to bend and how to fight with weapons, and she had had many a practice duel with some of them on board of the ship while traversing the sea going to the Earth Kingdom. They were all also unquestionably loyal – after three years at sea, Zuko had an eye for choosing his men.

_If only he had an eye for choosing his women also_, she smiled to herself. To tell the truth, she was sometimes still scared that some of the nobles might try and press for sealing the peace the old way, with Zuko marrying one of the daughters of the prominent Earth Kingdom houses. (Water Tribes were out: Katara was involved with Aang, and if there was one card that beat the King, it was the Avatar; and the only daughter of the Chief of the Northern Tribe had apparently turned into the Moon. Or something.)

And if it were anyone else in his place, she would be afraid that he would cave in to the pressure, or decide that it would be politically more expedient to cave in to the pressure. If it were anyone else. But not Zuko. Zuko loved her.

_Zuko loved her._

And so, it was easy to leave him, knowing that he would _not_ cave in to the pressure. And maybe to let him choose if he wanted to. And also, there was the question of how _she_ would accept her.

She took a deep breath and opened the door.

The inside of the tavern was mostly empty at this early hour, with some regular customers sitting in the far corner. The woman at the bar looked slightly different from how Mai remembered her, with some additional wrinkles in the forehead and around the eyes – the marks of many a sleepless night and much worry, as Mai could now testify from her own experience.

The woman at the bar looked up at her, and for a lengthening moment they looked each other in the eye. In the end, the woman yielded first. "Mai," she said. "You look beautiful."

"Thank you, Lady Ursa," Mai replied, sitting down. "Have you heard the news? Zuko is the Firelord."

"Yes, I have," the woman at the bar replied.

"He needs you to come back for him."

"And he sent you?"

The question came as a reproach, and Mai could not help but... feel emotion. "Haven't you heard, Lady Ursa? Zuko is the Firelord. He is the Firelord who is currently dealing with the aftermath of a hundred-year war he didn't even start and conducting peace negotiations with people ten times more experienced than him! He wanted to come. He really did."

Lady Ursa suddenly laughed, in a brilliant, delicate laugh. "Mai. I know all that. I was only surprised that he sent you! This means that he must trust you very much. Are you two still together?"

Mai deflated. "Oh. About that. Yes. Yes, we are."

The Lady Ursa, now a bartendress-in-exile, studied her for a long moment. "You have grown beautiful, Mai," she repeated. "And a proper young lady."

She did not know what to say, and so she reverted to her normal tactic. "Thank you, Lady Ursa," she said demurely.

The woman in front of her laughed again and, taking her by the shoulder, led her to a table. "Oh, don't clamp up so much, Mai! Instead, tell me all about my son. Has he changed a lot?"


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

The negotiations were drawing out, the day had been long and everyone was getting tired. Even the Avatar had stopped trying to amuse the guests with his pranks an hour earlier.

The status of the colonies was the bone of discontent. As much as it was clear that the Fire Nation armies would return to their mainland and that the majority of tanks, warships, war balloons and other implements of war would be scrapped – the fate of the civilians was less obvious. A hundred years since they first appeared in the Earth Kingdom lands, Many citizens of the Fire Nation now called them home – and the small volcanic islands from which they had originally hailed simply would not contain them all anymore. Besides that, the colonies, where citizens of all three cultures mixed, were seen as a potentially positive, creative force in the world by both Zuko and Kuei (though less so by the conservative Chief Arnook).

"Roku once said that the Four Nations were meant to be separate," Aang said at one point. "But I'm not sure if Sozin wasn't right that they should mix a bit, too. I mean, take the food in the colonies..."

"Yes," Sokka interrupted, bored. "The food. How long until the food?"

Katara shot him a glance, while Aang continued. "Of course, Sozin went about doing that in the worst way possible. But now that they are there, something good may come out of it! I mean, take Kyoshi island!"

Katara nodded. "Water Tribe and Earth Tribe, living together in peace. You are right, Aang. Something good may come out of it."

"And then, there's the White Lotus!" Toph added brightly.

"The White—" Chief Arnook started.

"Yes," Zuko said quickly. "The White Lotus. Ask Master Pakku about it, Chief. Back to the colonies: of course, before the 'peace' part happens, first, the rights of the Earth Kingdom citizens must be restored... and their wrongs must be repaired— What?" he asked Aang.

The monk giggled. "No, nothing, Zuko. It's just... it's been a long day."

"And now, we have guests!" Toph announced to no one in particular.

Zuko raised his head. "Guests?"

A moment later, the curtain leading out of the Firelord's War Chamber slid to the side, and one of the guards standing outside entered. He approached Zuko and murmured something into his ear.

Zuko's eyes widened, and he stood up. "Thank you," he said. "Let them in."

The fires in the War Chamber had been exhausted, both for political reasons – not to make the members of the other nations feel uncomfortable in the overwhelming presence of the other element – and for convenience – while the Fire Nation was used to its constant presence in their lives, after the long days of negotiations, guests from the colder climes might feel uncomfortable in the hot, stuffy room. It also gave much more space for the negotiations as well: at present, counting the guards and the advisors, the latter of whom constantly flicked in and out of the chamber, there were around fifty people in the room.

Zuko evidently didn't mind their presence as his girlfriend entered the chamber. "Mai! You're back! And..."

Behind Mai a tall, middle-aged woman in the garb of the Fire Nation Royalty came in. Zuko looked at her, wordless and dumbfounded, as if rooted to the ground. "Mom..."

"Oh, so _that's_ Zuko's Mom!" Toph exclaimed loudly. "I _was_ wondering why the way she walked was exactly just like his!"

Katara shot her a (mostly useless) look, but Toph's coarseness had apparently broken the spell on the young Firelord. He ran to the woman, mindless of his War Chamber. "Mom..."

"Zuko," the woman said, hugging him in his formal Firelord's dress. "You're so grown up... just like Mai."

"Yes. Thank you, Mai," Zuko said, turning to the younger woman.

"No problem, Zuko," she replied, turning away her face; Katara smiled, seeing the lightest blush on Zuko's girlfriend's face.

Zuko turned to his mother. "And I want you to meet my new friends, too!" he said, leading the woman towards the main table. "This is Aang..."

"The Avatar, I heard?" The woman asked, delicately tilting her head.

"Yes, that's me! And you're the granddaughter of Roku, aren't you?"

"...Katara..."

"Nice to meet you, ma'am," Katara replied, feeling a slight tug in her heart – remembering her own mother. That said, sad as she might be, Zuko still had the right to be happy.

"She is a Waterbender," Mai interjected.

"Oh, really?" A flash of interest suddenly crossed the Queen Mother's eyes, and Katara immediately understood how this woman had been not only Zuko's mother, but also Ozai's wife for years.

"Yes. From the Southern Water Tribe," said Katara.

"Katara's father, Hakoda, who is Chief of the Southern Water Tribe..."

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Lady Ursa," Hakoda said, bowing in the Water Tribe way.

The introductions went on, and on, with Mai and Zuko supplying details about the identity of each guest, and Ursa clearly taking note of them all. When they arrived at an end, however, his mother suddenly turned to Zuko.

"Zuko, my love," she said. "Mai didn't want to tell me, and she isn't here... Where is Azula?"


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Several months later, murmurs that the Chief of the Southern Water Tribe was courting the mother of the Firelord surfaced in the Fire Nation capital. The negotiations were long over – members of the White Lotus: Jeong Jeong, Piandao, Bumi and Pakku would serve as the Truth and Reconciliation Committee for the colonies – and all the ships of the Southern Water Tribe, but one, had departed for the South Pole.

It was a very delicate political matter for the young Firelord who must cultivate in the eyes of his nobility the image of being a Fire Nation ruler not swayed by any outside influence. Too many had already grumbled against his own friendships with non-Fire Nation citizens.

It might be possibly a better thing if Ursa had gone, this time on a voluntary, banishment, to the South Pole with Hakoda – out of sight, out of mind, so to say – but the Queen Mother refused. She had been too far away for too long, she said; and so, Hakoda remained a guest of honour in the Royal Palace, Bato and Sokka having temporarily taken over the chieftainship duties.

Ursa felt that what she was saying was certainly true: she had been away for too long. Less so for Zuko, though, who had turned into a great young man, and who was now struggling with combining his own duties as a Firelord with his romance with Mai, and for whom her presence in the background, however comforting, was not really necessary. More so for Azula.

Azula had been living her life in a dream ever since the Agni Kai in the Royal Palace: the price of her life was that she must regularly drink a tea which dumbed her clever mind and dulled her sharp senses and slowed down the flow of chi through her body, thus blocking her firebending. She could still produce a fire – after all, she was a prodigy, of the lineage of Sozin and Roku both – and that alone was a thing unheard of in the other patients; but her bending was weak. Weaker than when Ursa had last seen her, before the banishment.

And so, Ursa set out to help her child; Hakoda, whom she had started to love, be damned.

They diluted the tea, more and more day after day, and she appeared in the small, cozy private royal hospital, day after day; sometimes, Zuko appeared there, too. They talked to Azula, answered her garbled questions and accusations, and dispelled her nightmares. Mai declined to attend; the healers – the Waterbenders and the Fire Sages and the Dai Li mind experts and also Aang – said that, by piecing together all the disjointed servants' stories of Azula's first and only day of reign, they discovered that it must have been her and Ty Lee's disobedience in the Boiling Rock which had first pushed Azula on the path to self-destruction. It was therefore obvious that, in the early stages of the healing, Mai's attendance would only worsen Azula's state. She would be important later.

That "later" would come almost two years later, to the day; for that special occasion, Ty Lee also appeared from Kyoshi Island. Zuko, Ursa, Ty Lee and Mai gathered over Azula; she had not been given any of the mind-numbing tea the day before, and would be lucid. Ty Lee was also there for emergency, for if Azula broke free and her chi must immediately be blocked.

And so, Azula opened her eyes. "Mother," she said coldly. Then, "Mai. Ty Lee." And lastly, "Zu-zu."

"Azula!" Ty Lee said. "I'm so happy I see you!"

"Yes," Mai added. "Certainly, so happy." She still fell into her old habits occasionally, and, much as she did not want to admit it, Azula still scared her.

Zuko shot his wife a calming look. "Azula. We need to talk."

"Talk?" She shot him a look, up and down. "What could possibly have the all-powerful Firelord to tell to his prisoner?"

Zuko smirked. "You are late, Azula. Father already used that one."

"Father?" she asked. "Where is he?"

"Your father is dead," the calm voice of Ursa announced from behind Zuko's shape. "He chose not to peruse the second chance that was offered to him."

"Oh, so you believe in second chances," Azula offered. "With a Water Tribe peasant, I see," she added, smiting with her look the new necklace of her mother's.

"Azula!" Zuko yelled. "Stop that. We don't want to fight."

"But we're not fighting, Zu-zu," Azula said; and then, without much effort, slid into a firebending stance. "_Now_, we can fight."

"Relax," she said, coming out of her position on seeing that everyone around her also slid into fighting stances. "I'll have you know that whatever you poured into me worked. I am weak as a baby rhino. There is no way I will be able to fight you all. You mentioned talking," she turned sharply to Zuko.

Zuko took a deep breath. "Father is dead, Aang is the Avatar, I am the Firelord, the comet has passed, the Earth Kingdom now shares in a lot of our technology, and, two years in, the world is finally at peace. The rules of the game have changed, Azula. You will gain nothing if you take over the throne. You will not be able to start another war and conquer the world."

Azula looked to the ground. "I'm listening..."

"But I need you, Azula. Your skills and your insight. The nation needs you." He looked to Ursa. "Mother needs you."

"In your dreams, you said you thought I believed you were a monster, Azula," Ursa said. "That wasn't true. I loved you. I still love you."

"Yes, I know, you said that on the day of my coronation," Azula snapped. Behind her head, Mai exchanged a glance with Ty Lee.

But Azula shook own her head, and then said, with her customary crisp, terrifying insight, "No matter. I thank you, Mother, for your words, of course, but... This isn't about you, anymore. Or at least not _only_ about you. It hasn't been, in many years." She turned to her brother. "Zu-zu. You know that I will never be that, Zu-zu? I will never be good, like you. I will never be healed. You are risking a lot here. Your life. Mai's life. Your daughter's life."

"How do you—" Mai almost threw herself at Azula, only to be stopped by Ty Lee.

Meanwhile, Zuko looked at Azula sadly. "Yes, Azula, I know. But you can always _pretend_ to be healed, can't you? You have been always very good at games and pretending."

Azula nodded. And at the next meeting of the Council of Ministers, she sat on the Firelord's dais with her brother, at the side of the scar, as the Advisor of the Left Hand, as a counterpoint to Mai, who sat at his right hand. Her comments were sharp, to the point, and precise. No one would believe that she had lost the previous two years.

The people worried and marvelled and shook their heads at their Firelord Zuko, at his ability and willingness and trust to drag this dark shadow with him wherever he went. She would betray him, and quickly, they said.


	6. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

It took only one month before some rebels in favour of the old order (that of less consorting with the enemy, from the Queen Mother on) sprang Azula free and set her at the head of their armies. The rebellion lasted only until the next large assembly of the rebel leaders; not one soul, noble, merchant or peasant, survived that day, all burned to a crisp with cold blue fire or fried with precisely shot, cruel lightning. The message was clear: Azula resented the idea that anyone might think she might need saving. Wordless, she returned to the seat at her brother's left hand, and stayed there.

At the age of fifty, over her brother's many objections – she was not ready; she would _never_ be ready – Azula travelled West, to meet the dragons. She returned from there with a royal gift from the Masters to her royal brother: a dragon hatchling, the child of Ran and Shao, the first dragon to have been born in more than two centuries. She was later seen practicing the Dance of the Dragon in the practice courtyards, although she never used that style in battle.

Azula outlived both Zuko and Mai; and when their daughter, also Mai, ascended the throne as the next Firelord, she also served her niece in the capacity of the Advisor of the Left Hand. When Avatar Korra appeared in the Fire Nation land to seek a Firebending master, Azula was there.

Then, she vanished. Some say that she travelled West again, to meet again with the dragons; other said that she went on a trip to the Spirit World and never returned; others yet, that she found again the only man in her life who had dared to kiss her, and lived out with him the end of her days.

In truth, she awaited the next coming of the comet, by now renamed Zuko's Comet; and then, raised her hands – the wings of the phoenix – and burned, to finally be healed; to be reborn.

_The End_.


End file.
